Ten things only Coeliacs know…

1. When gluten-free cake is offered, it’s like the harvest has come in. Diet? Whaddya mean, diet?! We’ll eat now while we can!

2. The excitement of seeing gf in a restaurant or (gasp) being given a gluten-free menu.

3. That being given a choice when ordering food takes forever. We’re so used to being given one option that the combined pressure of excitement and decision-making is too much for us to handle.

4. You have to eat what you’re given. If you’re offered a gluten-free dish but it’s got something in you don’t like, it’s completely inappropriate to refuse it. You just have to lump it and chow down.

5. The default dinner of a jacket potato really, really doesn’t appeal.

6. When someone asks if doing your “diet” helps you lose weight, they never seem to get that that’s not the point.

7. Cross-contamination is distressing to say the least: if we wanted to harm ourselves, we would’ve chosen to eat the food in its entirety in the first place, not have a tiny trace!

8. That food bills are often twice as much. A tiny loaf of bread for 3 quid and 5 biscuits for £2.50 is the norm.

9. That it’s better to go hungry than be unwell.

10. That one day things will get better just as it did for the vegetarians of the sixties. Patience :-)

Got points to add? I’d love to hear from you! Just add your comments below.